- (AFP) - China said it would never tolerate an independent
Taiwan in response to a call by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian for
a referendum on the future of the island that Beijing considers a renegade
province.
-
- "There is only one China in the world and the mainland
and Taiwan are both a part of China," a foreign ministry spokesman
told AFP on Sunday.
-
- "The separation of China's sovereignty and territorial
integrity will never be tolerated."
-
- The spokesman was commenting on defiant remarks made
by Chen on Saturday in which he outlined a marked shift in his "middle
road" policy with Beijing by stressing the island's right to hold
a referendum on possible Taiwan independence.
-
- "Taiwan's future and destiny can only be decided
by the 23 million people living on the island," Chen said in a teleconference
with the pro-independence overseas Taiwanese association in Tokyo.
-
- "But how to make the decision when the time comes?
The answer is what (we) have sought after -- referendum."
-
- He also stressed Taiwan's statehood and independent sovereignty,
saying that "each side (of the Taiwan Strait) is a country".
-
- "Taiwan can not be bullied, dwarfed, marginalised
or regionalised. Taiwan is not part of another country, nor is it a regional
government or a province."
-
- In a move likely to further enrage Beijing, Chen's ruling
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Sunday that a controversial law
allowing a referendum on the island's future could be introduced by the
end of the year.
-
- DPP leglislator Trong Chai said the DPP would push for
parliament to pass the law when the new session opens in the middle of
next month.
-
- Meanwhile in Beijing, the foreign ministry spokesman
indicated that a more formal response to Chen's statements could be issued
by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, China's cabinet.
-
- Officials at the Taiwan Affairs Office were not immediately
available for comment Sunday.
-
- The spokesman refused to comment on the possibility that
Chen's remarks were aimed at stirring up debate on Taiwan ahead of a key
mainland Communist Party (CCP) Congress later this year in which prominent
leadership changes are expected to take place.
-
- Although political opposition is rarely voiced openly
in the murky world of mainland politics, Chinese President Jiang Zemin's
repeated vow to use force to retake Taiwan has been seen in some quarters
as destablizing the China's central policy of economic development and
raising living standards, analysts said.
-
- By ratcheting up tensions in the Taiwan Strait, Chen
would appear to be mimicking mainland war games and saber-rattling that
preceded Taiwan's last two presidential elections and which were widely
seen as attempts by Beijing to influence the Taiwan electorate, they said.
-
-
-
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
